Deviant psychology books?

December 11, 2009 10:56 AM

I'm interested in suggestions for books on psychology, particularly deviant psychology. I'm not taking a degree, and I don't have access to an academic library, but I am looking for fairly academic works.
posted by stinkycheese to Education (6 answers total)

Best answer: You can browse through Amazon's textbooks and see if any of those look interesting to you. If you find books you're interested in, you can probably find reviews online to help you decide whether you should get it.

Also, if your local library has access to academic databases, you can search through psychology journals and find interesting things to read.
posted by autoclavicle at 11:14 AM on December 11, 2009

Full-text version of Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis.
posted by jonp72 at 11:24 AM on December 11, 2009

'Abnormal psychology' and 'psychopathology' are good search terms to use.
posted by so_gracefully at 11:46 AM on December 11, 2009

I'd start with a college-level Abnormal Psych textbook. If you like psychology, it should be very interesting even though it's a textbook. I'm sure you can find affordable ones on ebay or half.com...if you want a recommendation, I can look at what I used in college when I get home.
posted by radioamy at 11:51 AM on December 11, 2009

If you want to go with basic psych 101, Exploring Psychology by David G Myers is a great textbook.
posted by radioamy at 11:55 AM on December 11, 2009

The DSM-IV might be worth a checkout from the library, although I don't think you need to own a copy unless you are in the field. The term "Abnormal Psychology" will probably yield better results than "Deviant Psychology", as deviant behavior overlaps with many diagnoses, but neither is necessary or sufficient for the other.
posted by sophist at 1:00 PM on December 11, 2009